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Topic: Ultragrain (Read 31263 times)

Ultragrain is a ConAgra Foods product intended to provide the nutrition of whole grain flour with the taste and texture of processed white wheat flour. More information can be found at ConAgra Food's Ultragrain website: http://www.ultragrain.com/

I wondered how well a flour of this kind would work for making a pizza crust, comparing it against traditional whole wheat and white wheat flour based crusts. The flour I used was Eagle Mills All-Purpose flour which can probably be found at most supermarkets now. The dough formula was as follows:

The dough ball weight for a single 14" pizza was 490 g. My analysis is that this flour is an excellent replacement for traditional whole wheat flour, but it still lacks the more favorable flavor that comes from using bread or high-gluten flour. I would describe the flavor as similar to a mixture of traditional all-purpose and traditional whole wheat. The Ultragrain flour did have comparable gluten strength to something found between a bread and high-gluten flour. The texture of the baked crust was probably the best of its qualities. I found the interior of the rim to be much more pillowy than what can be achieved with a traditional whole grain flour. I'm not sure if that is enough to compel me to use this flour for pizzas on a regular basis, but it is good enough for me to say I will probably never use traditional whole wheat flour again in a pizza crust as long as this flour is available. I highly recommend this flour for anyone who is already committed to using whole grains on a regular basis for their pizza crust.

I responded to the other thread you linked from on whole wheat flour. I'm curious if the flavor profile would be inhanced with a longer proof in the fridge or a 24 hour counter top proof, also, how a cracker crust would perform using this. I have to go to the store for a few things and will check to see if they have any to try out. Thanks again for the info.Jon

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It would be a matter of preference as to whether a cold fermentation would improve the flavor, but in general a longer fermentation almost always improves the flavor. Given how well the outside of the crust crisps I think this flour is well suited for a cracker crust, or even a deep dish crust. This flour is the first I have encountered that I would truly call "all-purpose." For the past several weeks I have used it for cakes and cookies with great success; I already knew it would do well for making bread; and now I think it works well as a pizza crust flour. It has already replaced traditional all-purpose flour in my pantry, and I can't think of a good reason why it shouldn't replace traditional whole wheat flour for any recipe that calls for it.

I haven't been able to find this flour in a store yet. The bag photos indicate 9 grams of whole grain per serving. I guess that means it's a 30% blend of whole wheat and refined wheat. Would like to find 100% ultragrain.

"Ultragrain can also be found in Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour, a blend of 30% Ultragrain and 70% premium white flour, which can be used as a direct replacement for white or bread flour in any recipe, making already delicious recipes more nutritious. Eagle Mills All-Purpose Flour offers 9 grams of whole grains per ¼ cup serving."

I'm not sure if there would be much benefit to using 100% Ultragrain. At 30% it provides most of the nutrition of 100% whole wheat flour, but with much less "whole graininess." Keep in mind the principle comparison. King Arthur's White Whole Wheat flour contains 3g of fiber and 4g of protein per 1/4 cup serving, while Eagle Mills All-Purpose flour contains 2g of fiber and 4g of protein. Obviously those numbers are crude, but it shows a notable increase in fiber and protein over bread flour (1g of fiber and 3g of protein). Flour mills like Eagle Mills might in fact be using a graham flour (milled using the Graham process) base rather than a standard processed white flour base to achieve more of the physical characteristics of white flour and nutrition of whole wheat flour. I don't know if graham flour can be advertised as whole grain flour in the United States. The ingredients only state: Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour and Ultragrain Whole Wheat Flour). "Wheat Flour" could mean several different things.

I decided to try a few things to improve the flavor (not that the flavor was bad, but it was still very "whole-grain" tasting) and see what a blend with bread flour would produce. I was very impressed with the results. The flavor was much closer to what is typical of pure bread or high-gluten flour based crusts. Due to the increase in sugar from additional honey, and the addition of malted milk powder, the texture wandered a bit into bread territory, but was still far above average if comparing against chain restaurant fare. The following was the dough formula used:

November, Beautiful pizza!I am curious about your fermentation schedule. From reading your posts I know that you leave no stone unturned when it comes to your endeavors. I am wondering how much volume increase you get in this amount of time. I would also love to know why you would prefer this short rise time over a longer slower rise. I am assuming it is at least partially because of the increase in enzymatic activity that you get with the elevated yeast levels.

I would also love to know why you would prefer this short rise time over a longer slower rise. I am assuming it is at least partially because of the increase in enzymatic activity that you get with the elevated yeast levels.

I also created a chart about 9 months ago that illustrates where the sweet spot is for a combination (blue line) of enzymatic action under the influence of artificially high acid production (red line) and yeast productivity (green line): http://www.toastguard.com/lib/images/graphs/sweet_spot.png You can see that the apex of the combination is right around 40°C (104°F). Determined through experimentation, under normal acid production (not shown) the sweet spot is closer to 30°C (86°F).

It's also a very convenient schedule to follow, and I have been using it consistently for a while now to judge the differences between dough formulas. It's simple and it allows me the opportunity to see the dough perform in a bulk stage, divided stage, a warm stage, and a room-temperature stage. That much variation in the schedule gives me a lot to compare dough formulas with.

I was pleased with the flavor and the texture. This blend could have easily gone more in the Ultragrain direction without compromising good flavor. I'll probably make one more 50/50 crust but with malted brown rice syrup as a sweetener before increasing the Eagle Mills All-Purpose proportion to two-thirds.

This is the last 50/50 blend I anticipate reporting on. This formula includes my preferred sweetener, malted brown rice syrup (MBRS). Since MBRS is not as sweet as sucrose, and because it obviously contains water, the amount is adjusted accordingly (higher than sucrose or honey). Future blends and 100% formulas will probably include MBRS just because I favor the resulting flavor.

Only 50% of the flour was used at the start to form a quasi-poolish. This quasi-poolish fermented for six (6) hours at 68°F. Then the rest of the flour was added and the schedule outlined in the first post was followed for a grand total of twelve (12) hours.

My conclusion is that this crust was among the best I've had out of all crusts, including ones made with 100% bread flour or 100% high-gluten flour. The combination of increasing the hydration, using MBRS and rice bran oil, and a six-hour preferment really made an incredible difference. The dough handled almost identically to a high-gluten flour based dough. The additional acids produced during the preferment stage really helped to break down the bran and create a super soft crumb while canceling out all but a tiny bit of the "whole-wheat-like" flavor. This shouldn't come as any major surprise, but it's worth mentioning for those who would not normally consider a preferment. I know that I typically wouldn't because of time constraints, however it may be worth the trouble in this case. I could see myself making this crust on a regular basis with results like these. Without the changes in this post from the first post in this thread, I wouldn't bother with it for frequent consumption.

Thanks for the update. I haven't tried this flour on a pizza crust yet, maybe this weekend. I found some at the local Coborns Grocery and made some bread from it a week ago and was less than impressed with the outcome. Would have been better with some high glutin flour mixed in due to it turning out a bit flat and not much rise, very little glutin developement even though I beat and kneaded the devil out of it, including starting a preferment the day before. But on the other hand your crusts look fantastic. I think this flour is more suited to pizza. I'll let you know how it turns out when I make one.Jon

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“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” -Mark Twain

I'm surprised that you had complications with gluten development. I actually have to be careful not to knead the dough too much otherwise the gluten bonds become so strong, it's difficult to stretch. As I mentioned before, without the preferment the "100%" dough handled with gluten strength between a bread flour dough and a high-gluten flour dough. With the preferment it handled like a high-gluten flour dough. I can't ask for better than that. I look forward to a report of your experience.

I found some at the local Coborns Grocery and made some bread from it a week ago and was less than impressed with the outcome. Would have been better with some high glutin flour mixed in due to it turning out a bit flat

Not only was I impressed with the rise, I had to flatten it a bit before putting it in the oven so that when I went to apply peanut butter and jelly, it wouldn't seep through any large holes. If I had left the dough alone before baking it, it would have had outrageous voids.

All of the Eagle Mills flour, all of the water, the sugar, and the yeast were mixed together to form a preferment. The preferment was kept at 86°F for 3 hours before adding the rest of the ingredients and following the fermentation schedule used in the first post of this thread. Of this crust's characteristics, the flavor was the best.

I went back to 50/50 for this one because I wanted to try out a different fermentation schedule rather than a different blend. The next time I use this schedule it will probably be with 100% Eagle Mills All-Purpose flour.

The preferment consisted of all the Eagle Mills flour, all the water, all the malted brown rice syrup, and all the ADY. The additional ADY and the use of a preferment certainly maximized the flavor; and when I say maximized, I mean I wouldn't want any more. It was characteristic of a very long room temperature rise.

I have read the Ultragrain website trying to figure out how that product compares with KA White Whole Wheat. Can you shed some light on the subject?

White Whole Wheat Flour

Milled from white whole wheat, rather than red, unbleached King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour has all the fiber and nutrition of traditional whole wheat, with milder flavor and lighter color. Thus, white whole wheat is a great way to add whole grains to your family's diet. Start by replacing 1/3 of the all-purpose flour in your favorite recipe with white whole wheat flour; gradually increase the percentage of whole wheat until your baked good's flavor and texture are just the way you like them. We find that in cookies, muffins, pancakes and quick breads, using white whole wheat flour in place of the entire amount of all-purpose flour yields a baked treat that's just as tasty as the original, with the benefit of increased fiber, vitamins and minerals.

What I want to do is substitute it for the Ultragrain. I have used the KA WWW in place of White All purpose for pie crusts and they came out as good if not better, of course all that butter can cover many errors!

I have read the Ultragrain website trying to figure out how that product compares with KA White Whole Wheat. Can you shed some light on the subject?

I do not work for ConAgra so I do not have any inside knowledge of their process. You and I have access to the same information. I understand it to be a whole grain flour that has been milled differently than standard whole grain flours.

I'm going to go ahead and pre-post the dough formula I will be using in the next Eagle Mills batch. When I find a flour, combination of ingredients, or dough making process I like, I once every so often deal with proportions that are easy for someone using volume measurements to follow. The ingredients are also very easy to find in this case. The following formula is optimized for both baker's percentages and volume measured quantities given a batch size for two 14" pizzas: